Auxiliary belt shifting device



April 4, 195o M, WMHS'MANv 2,502,768

AUXILIARY BELT SHIFTING DEVICE Filed May 16, 1946 33 4 El -IIJ- M/cH/s L mms/VAN Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,502,763.l AUXILIARY BELT SHIFTIN'G. DEVICE" Michael Wachsman, Brooklym Y.

Application May 16, 1946, serial'Nu. 676,093'

(C1. vih-242) 1 Claim.

The object of this invention is to provide a device adapted to be -mounted upon a belt shifting mechanism to serve as an auxiliary power means for moving the` shipping lever from driving' to' idle position, i.. e. to shift the belt from the tight to the loose pulley.

The device is intended for use on belt shifting mechanisms in which the' shipping lever is moved manually into driving position and temporarily locked in such position during normal driving conditions, The shipping lever is however, automatically released and moved into idle position when the nor-mal' driving operation of the machine is interrupted, for example when a break occurs in some movingv part.

The means for moving the shipping lever into idle position must be forceful and instantaneously operable when occasion arises. Usually a spring is employed for this purpose. It has been found', particularly in the case of knitting machines, that because of unavoidable space limitations, such shipping lever spring which it is possible tol install and use must be' relatively small and therefore limitedn in power' and durability. Such springs wear out rather quickly' or become too weak to move the lever quickly or not at all.

The device herein disclosed provides an auxiliary additional spring power means for instantaneously and forcefully moving the shipping lever into idle position after it has been released from the control mechanism. The spring acts by expansion and therefore lasts longer and acts quicker. In the accompanying drawing illustrating the invention Fig. 1 is a side view of the device.

Fig. 2 is an end View looking from the left in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the device attached to the belt shifting mechanism of a knitting machine.

Fig. 5is a diagram of a control mechanism of a knitting machine.

The device comprises a cylinder I held in a support II in axially adjustable relation by set screws I2. The rear end of the cylinder is closed by a plug I3. The forward end I4 is open. Within the cylinder there is placed a powerful expansion coiled spring I which carries a rear plug IB and a forward plug I1. A space regulating screw I8 is threaded into the plug I3 as shown. The support II is in the form of a relatively stro-ng rigid casting forming an upright arm I9 which receives the cylinder I0 and 55 2. also forming a bracket portion 20 provided withl screw holesJ 2f.

In use the device will be mounted with the' cylinder I0 andy spring I'5 in axial alinement with the* shipping lever' of a knitting or other' machine, theforwardlplug' I 'I in the spring touch--Y ing' the free endl' of' the shipping lever when the latter is in idleposition, the spring I5 being wholly expanded; When now the shipping lever is' moved into driving' position, the spring I5 willfbe'c'ompressed within the cylinder and power' will be' stored)v in the'A spring ready for expansion when the shipping lever is released.

When for' any' reason the shipping leverv is released, the spring' I-'5 will suddenly expand so that' the forward plug IT will be shot out from the cylinderand push the shipping lever into idle' position: action oith'e'regular shipping lever spring; When the shipping' leveris again' Imoved into driving position; ther spring I-5- is again compressed andt ready to act.

The' power of" the spring I5 is adjustable by theregulating screw F81 which regulates the space; within which the spring' may becompressed. In' addition; the entire' cylinder and spring are ad'-` justable lengthwise in the arm I9 of the support I I. Should it be found that the power of the' spring I5 is greater than required, the cylinder I0 may be moved further rearwards, to the right in' the drawing. By moving the cylinder forward in the support II the compression of the spring is increased, as will be understood.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate diagrammatically and by way of example the installation and operation of the device when used on a knitting machine. In Fig. 4 the numeral 25 indicates the driving shaft of a knitting machine with the tight and loose pulleys 26, 21, respectively. The belt is Imarked 28 and is shown driving the tight pulley. The belt shifter 29 is carried by the slidably mounted shipping lever 30, the latter having been moved manually from idle to driving position by a well known form of cam mechanism indicated at 3| and operated from a handle 32 through a train of gears as shown. A spring 33 acts to pull the shipping lever from driving to idle position. As stated above, it has been found that springs as 33 are too weak to function for any length of time and frequently break.

The shipping lever is held in driving position by a control mechanism such as illustrated in Fig. 5. The auxiliary device is secured to the control box 34 by bolt 35 passing through the This will happen regardless of the holes 2l in the support II. These holes are drilled to match certain holes in the box which exist for other purposes but which may be used for attaching the auxiliary device. The cylinder l0 with the spring l5 are alined with the shipping lever through a hole 36 in the control box.

A simple form of control mechanism is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5. For example, the shipping lever 30 may have a lug 40 which is positioned behind the armature lever 4l of an electromagnet 42 when the lever is pushed into driving position. In a knitting machine, for example, the magnet is connected via a battery 43 to a thread detector 44 whichrestsupon a travelling thread 45. When the thread breaks, the detector falls down upon a contact 46 to close the electric circuit of the machine. The armature lever is then withdrawn and'the shipping lever released to be acted upon by the spring I5, or both springs if the regular spring l armature lever 4l is moved away ffrom the lug 4D and then the shipping lever is spring actuated to shift the belt to the loose pulley and the machine stops running. When the fault has been attended to, the operator operates the belt shifting mechanism to move the belt back to the tight pulley and the machine starts operating. When thus shifting the shipping lever back to running position the operator holds the armature lever 4| out of the path of movement of the lug 40 so the latter can by-pass the armature lever, or other means may be employed for this purpose, not shown.

The belt shifting mechanisms for knitting machines are made as compact as possible and the several parts of the mechanism are crowded together within a very small space. It is there- Nor- H fore impossible to reinforce the regular spring when it becomes Weak, and frequent and dimcult replacements are necessary. By the addition of the auxiliary device herein disclosed a material disadvantage in existing belt shifting mechanisms is overcome. The auxiliary device is not limited in use to knitting machines but may be found useful for other machines as Well.

I claim:

A belt shifting mechanism comprising a housing, a shipping lever slidably mounted therein, means accessible from outside the housing for moving said lever into belt driving position, means for releasably locking the lever in said position, a spring Within the housing for automatically moving said lever into belt idling position after it has been released, an auxiliary power spring device for moving said shipping lever into belt idling position as aforesaid, said device comprising a support mounted on the outside of said housing, a spring cylinder secured in said support and extending into the housing in axial alinement with said shipping lever, a compressible spring in said cylinder, means in the latter for positioning the spring in contact with the shipping lever to be compressed by said lever when it is moved into belt driving position as aforesaid, said spring being free to expand to move the lever into said belt idling position after said lever has been released as aforesaid, means for adjustably securing said cylinder in the said support, the said last named means and the said spring positioning means being acces-- sible from outside the said housing.

MICHAEL WACHSMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 197,641 Knowles Nov. 27, 1877 660,454 Peirce Oct. 23, 1900 45 1,035,339 Fox Aug.13,1912

1,944,185 Langer Jan. 23, 1934 

